Week 3 Mountains to Beach Marathon Training

Well, the longest run I was planning on doing before Mountains to Beach Marathon is officially done. This past week was interesting. I had a pretty low point and then ended it on a pretty high point with my long run. I had this on my schedule this week…

This week was a bit crazy because it was a big week for my team, with Moore League Prelims and Finals on Wednesday and Friday. I also knew on Mother’s Day that I wouldn’t want to do a long run so I re-scheduled it to Saturday. The recovery run on Monday was easy and I felt good. There was a lot of excitement all week long with the big races happening for my team and I’m still trying to find my voice again. My tempo runs are something that I always get so nervous about, but most of the time they go much better than I anticipate, just like the planned run I had on Tuesday.

I started out nice and slow and reminded myself to relax, just like I always have to do. For some reason I want to take out way too fast and then I hurt at the end. When mile 4 came around I tried really hard to try to be consistent and not let my mind get away from me. Sometimes, I hear the splits and start doubting that I can run that fast and freak out, even though I’m feeling pretty normal and okay. When I’m ‘in’ the tempo part of the run, I try to split it up so that it’s more manageable to push myself for that period of time. I split it up into a mile, then a 5K, then think of it as a 10K, and it really helps. The weather this week was great and perfect for running, which also made it easier to run and get in my tempos. I was feeling pretty good after this run and then was on my feet all night long at the Track Prelims. I didn’t get in my recovery run the following day but wasn’t too worried about it because I knew I had the tempo run the next day. I woke up screaming with a Charlie Horse, and then I started off on the run… and here’s where it ended.

After that run, my head was all over the place. I was overly nervous for my 18 miler this weekend and I was kind of freaking out because I was on my feet again from 1-8:30 pm on Friday all day for the Track Finals. When I got ready Saturday morning, I told myself no matter what, I couldn’t quit and it was important to get it done because it was the last long run I had to do before race day. If I had to walk, I would finish all 18 miles. I finally had a great run and it was still really tough, but somewhat invigorating. I just kept running and each mile, every time the runkeeper would announce my mile time, I was shocked I was keeping the pace pretty steady.

The first 5 miles were fairly ‘hilly’ with a few freeway overpass ‘hills’ and then the rest was just around through out neighborhoods and a park I ate a peanut butter packet and some water at mile 8, and definitely should have eaten more especially since this was a pretty long run, but I just didn’t want to schelp all the crap with me. I took it out way too fast at mile 8-9 and need to try to keep it more consistent around 7:45. I am going to spend some time working on running that pace to try to teach my body how that pace feels. I was done with the run in 2:19, which I was really happy with because if I have 8.2 miles left, I know I can do that in a little over an hour, so I’m hoping to finish around 3:45.

I took an ice bath when I got home and it has seemed to really help with soreness because the following day after my long runs I haven’t been that sore at all. I need to remember that when I’m running in the race and that the pain I feel will soon be a distance memory and I need to just push through and get it done. I have really been working on my mental part of my running too. I think it has really helped me push myself to run harder and faster than I think I can.

I also went to a pretty fun wedding that evening with my best friend, and thankfully was able to wear flats :) We took quite a few photo booth pics and had a lot of fun catching up.

I am still working on a post about what I’ve done to help with my speed, so I hope to get that up sometime this week! Overall, this week was a solid week of training, and I’m so happy that I got my long run done and it went well. Here’s to the last big week of training and then it will be race week. I can’t wait!

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2 Comments

nice job on your 18 miler… I hit 2:21…. I’m hoping to just run under 4 hours… that would be a HUGE PR.. for me… and hopefully the confidence I need to BQ in the fall:) Keep up the great work… can’t wait to hear how your marathon goes!

“When I’m ‘in’ the tempo part of the run, I try to split it up so that it’s more manageable to push myself for that period of time. I split it up into a mile, then a 5K, then think of it as a 10K, and it really helps”…. I like this strategy. Thanks for sharing! You will kill this race D. It’s mostly mental right?! Btw, I used to get emails telling me a new blog was up. I’ve been having to visit the site to check (for the last 2). Something change? Or just my MAC acting up? Stay fierce!

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